Touchstone Charitable Foundation
Salford family trust funded mainly by its trustees, with an unspent National Lottery grant for a listening-skills course
| Touchstone Charitable Foundation
| |
|---|---|
| Type | Other |
| Founded | 2000-02-01 (registered) |
| Registration ID | Registered charity 1079201 |
| Headquarters | Salford M7 |
| Area served | Bury, Salford City, Gateshead, France, Israel, Scotland |
The Touchstone Charitable Foundation is a trust established by a deed of 15 December 1999 and registered on 1 February 2000; its objects are Jewish religious education and the relief of poverty in the Jewish community, and its register areas are Bury, Salford, Gateshead, France, Israel and Scotland (PDF p.4–5).[1][2] The register lists Ian Howard Lachs, Deborah Joy Lachs and Daniel Levin (appointed 13 February 2024) as trustees; the accounts name only I H Lachs and D Lachs, and Mr Lachs runs the charity day to day; the principal office is in Salford M7 (PDF p.3–4).[1][2] In the year to 31 March 2025 it received £72,566 in donations and a restricted grant of £19,660, and spent £37,793, mostly in grants of £35,632; Mr and Mrs Lachs gave £60,757 "from personal funds or companies under his control" (PDF p.5, 8, 13, 15).[2] The independent examiner is D Schwarz FCCA, Prestwich (31 December 2025).[2]
Objects and activities
The charity's registered objects read: "GENERAL CHARITABLE PURPOSES"[1]
The register describes its activities as: "Advance general charitable purposes."[1]
Register classifications: General Charitable Purposes, Education/training, The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty, Religious Activities.[1]
Areas of operation recorded on the register: Bury, Salford City, Gateshead, France, Israel, Scotland.[1]
Trustees
Current trustees, with other charities on which the same register trustee ID appears:[1]
| Trustee | Appointed | Chair | Other trusteeships |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deborah Joy Lachs | not recorded | — | |
| Ian Howard Lachs | not recorded | — | |
| Daniel Levin | 2024-02-13 | Bhm Charitable Trust (1122821); Chen Esther Limited (1214378); The a I W Charitable Trust (327651) |
Historical trustees (UK Government Web Archive)
| Capture date | Trustees listed | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2021-01-14 | Stuart Ashley – also trustee of S B Lachs Charitable Trust; Deborah Joy Lachs; Ian Howard – also trustee of S B Lachs Charitable Trust | [3] |
Finances
| Financial year end | Income | Expenditure |
|---|---|---|
| 2021-03-31 | £30,213 | £14,775 |
| 2022-03-31 | £17,475 | £26,794 |
| 2023-03-31 | £21,871 | £26,371 |
| 2024-03-31 | £27,593 | £27,325 |
| 2025-03-31 | £92,226 | £37,793 |
Source: register annual-return history.[1]
Funding in Israel
- 2025 grants £35,632 (2024: £26,725): British Friends of Yeshivas Shaarei Chochmo £11,000 (2024: £13,000); Broom Foundation £2,050; grants under £1,000 totalling £22,582. No grantee is identified as Israeli (PDF p.13–14).[2]
Israeli partners
No Israeli partner is named.[2]
Activity beyond the Green Line and support for the IDF
Findings are graded by confidence. "Partner" findings concern the Israeli recipient organisation, not proven use of UK funds.
| Finding | Confidence |
|---|---|
| No place in Israel is named.[2] | Not established |
Support for the IDF: No IDF or military funding is stated.[2]
Controversies and regulatory action
- No Charity Commission inquiry, Official Warning or Gazette insolvency notice naming this charity was found, and its register entry shows no regulatory alert;[4] it is not among the charities named in the Commission's cheque-cashing class-inquiry announcements (May, September and December 2025) or in the September 2026 statement of results.[5][6][7][8] The charities in the Commission's settlements class inquiry (opened August 2026) have not been named, so it is not known whether this charity is among them.[9]
- Unspent restricted grant. The £19,660 restricted fund was unspent at the year end, and the accounts do not give its source or purpose (PDF p.15).[2] 360Giving data show a National Lottery Community Fund grant of £19,660 on 28 May 2024 for "Promoting MH through Improved Listening Skills".[10]
- Governance gaps. The report says "There are no policies for the induction or training of new trustees" and that "All other office costs are borne by a trustee", although general office costs of £1,500 are charged (PDF p.4–5, 13).[2] Daniel Levin, a trustee on the register since February 2024, is not named in the accounts.[1][2]
Other registers and records
Scotland and Northern Ireland
No entry was found on the Scottish Charity Register for this charity (register export dated 14 October 2026, searched by name).[11] No entry was found on the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland register (API name searches returned zero results).[12]
The Gazette
Searches of The Gazette notice feeds (all notices, insolvency and company) for the charity's name found no insolvency, winding-up or strike-off notice.[13]
Grants recorded by 360Giving
| Date | Funder | Amount (£) | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-05-28 | The National Lottery Community Fund | 19,660 | The funding will be used to develop and implement an active listening and reflection online training course for members of the Orthodox Jewi |
No grants made by the charity are published in 360Giving data, so flows between linked charities could not be traced there.[14]
Sanctions screening
The charity's name, its current register trustees, trustees named on archived register pages, trustees and officers named in the accounts read for this profile and (for charitable companies) its Companies House officers were screened against the UK Sanctions List and the OFSI Consolidated List. No match was found.[15]
Land and property
The register records that the charity does not own or lease land or property.[1] No title registers were purchased.[16]
Parliament
Hansard exact-phrase searches for "Touchstone Charitable Foundation" returned 0 contributions in total.[17]
Web archive
The UK Government Web Archive holds 2 archived Charity Commission register pages used in this profile (cited in the sections above). The 2021 archived full print showed the status "Charity reporting is up to date" and "Other regulators: No information available".[3]
External links
- No current official website.
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 Charity Commission for England and Wales, Register of Charities public extract (tables charity, charity_trustee, charity_annual_return_history, charity_area_of_operation, charity_classification, charity_other_names), extract dated 14 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 Charity Commission, Touchstone Charitable Foundation (1079201): accounts and annual returns Register of Charities; latest accounts downloaded 16 October 2026 ("PDF p." = page of the PDF file).
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Register entry 1079201, full print (capture of 20210114) UK Government Web Archive.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Register of Charities, charity overview page (register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/en/charity-search/-/charity-details/ followed by the organisation number) for each of the 25 batch-18 charities, all retrieved successfully on 16 October 2026 and checked for a "Regulatory alerts" section; none was shown for any of them. Sixteen registered charities showed "Charity reporting is up to date (on time)"; the Porter Foundation showed "up to date (1 day late)", The Persian Hebrew Community "up to date (48 days late)", Bernard Kahn Charitable Trust "up to date (33 days late)" and the Rabbi Yisroel Yehudah Peritz Charitable Trust "up to date (3 days late)"; Jassiane Limited showed "Charity reporting is overdue by 623 days"; The Friends of Birzeit University, The Friends of the Or Hachaim Educational Centre for Girls and John Hagee Ministries showed "Removed charity".
- ↑ Charity Commission, Serious concerns over use of £22 million triggers investigation by charity regulator GOV.UK, 14 May 2025.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator opens next phase of investigation into 105 charities connected to company cashing cheques GOV.UK, 1 September 2025.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator announces next charities to be investigated as part of inquiry connected to company cashing cheques GOV.UK, 4 December 2025.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator concludes investigation into 4 charities as class inquiry continues GOV.UK, 9 September 2026, with Statement of the results of a class inquiry (same date).
- ↑ Charity Commission, Charity regulator opens inquiry into charities working in illegal Israeli settlements GOV.UK, 5 August 2026 (a fact-finding statutory class inquiry initially involving 8 charities which "are not being publicly named at this time").
- ↑ 360Giving, 360Giving API: grants received by GB-CHC-1079201 queried 16 October 2026 (grant 360G-tnlcomfund-a0rP200000A8claIAB, The National Lottery Community Fund, 28 May 2024, £19,660).
- ↑ Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, Scottish Charity Register download OSCR, export dated 14 October 2026; keyword search of the 25 batch-18 charity names found no matching Scottish registration.
- ↑ Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, Register of charities search API CCNI, searched 16 October 2026 (keyword searches for each of the 25 batch-18 charity names returned no matching charity).
- ↑ The Gazette: notices matching 'Touchstone Charitable Foundation' The Gazette, searched 16 October 2026.
- ↑ 360Giving API: grants received by GB-CHC-1079201 360Giving, queried 16 October 2026.
- ↑ Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, UK Sanctions List (CSV); Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, Consolidated List of Financial Sanctions Targets (ConList.csv). Batch-18 screening covered 285 name strings: the 25 charity names, current register trustees, trustees named on archived register pages, Companies House officers of the seven charitable companies, and trustees, examiners, grantees, subsidiaries and other people and bodies named in the accounts and sources read for this batch; matching on surname plus forename tokens, reviewed manually. No forename-and-surname match for any person was found; token matches were surname-only coincidences (for example Weiss, Cohen, Salem and Tauber) or generic words such as "Foundation", "Aid" and "People"; lists downloaded October 2026.
- ↑ HM Land Registry, Search for land and property information GOV.UK, accessed October 2026; no titles were looked up or purchased. Candidate title numbers below come from the free CCOD / OCOD datasets (October 2026 release), not from paid title registers.
- ↑ UK Parliament, Hansard search API: contributions matching the exact phrase "Touchstone Charitable Foundation" Hansard, queried 16 October 2026 (Spoken and Written endpoints; quoted-phrase search).